Aimee Liu

Novelist, Essayist, Teacher


 

Aimee Liu

Aimee Liu is the bestselling author of the novel Glorious Boy, as well as Flash House; Cloud Mountain; and Face. Her nonfiction includes Gaining: The Truth About Life After Eating Disorders and Solitaire. Aimee's books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. Her short fiction has been nominated for and received special mention in the Pushcart Prize competition. Her essays have appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books, The Los Angeles Times, Poets & Writers, and many other periodicals and anthologies. She taught for many years in Goddard College's MFA in Creative Writing Program at Port Townsend, WA.

Aimee grew up in Connecticut but spent two of her earliest years in India. Her father was born in Shanghai, the son of a Chinese scholar-revolutionary and his American wife. You just might find a few of these threads in her novels!

She received her BA from Yale University, studying painting. After setting visual art aside for decades, she's recently come roaring back into this medium, courtesy of Instagram! You can find her current "PhoPaintings" @aimeeeliu

Aimee returned to grad school to earn her MFA from Bennington Writing Seminars. She worked as a flight attendant, edited business and trade publications, and was an associate producer for NBC's TODAY show before turning to writing full-time. She is married and lives in Los Angeles.

For more, please see her post @Medium: About Me--Aimee Liu

One of Aimee's Instagram "PhotoPaintings."

Recent Appearances/Events

Date Venue Address
Date: April 19, 2025
6:00pm - 		Venue: Barnes&Noble Glendale Chat with David Rocklin Address: The Americana at Brand 210 Americana Way
Glendale, CA 91210
Notes: Join me at Barnes & Noble Americana for my conversation about Inspiration, with David Rocklin, author of the new novel The Electric Love Song of Fleischl Berger.
Date: February 23, 2025
5:00pm - 6:00pm 		Venue: Village Well Books & Coffee Address: 9900 Culver Boulevard #1b
Culver City, CA 90232
Notes: Join us at Village Well Books & Coffee for a panel celebrating the release of Snapshots, a brand new anthology with a diverse array of essays and photography. Editor Dinah Lenney moderates a conversation and reading with authors featured in the collection including Aimee Liu (Glorious Boy), Tod Goldberg (Gangsterland), Aimee Bender (The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake), and Ivy Pochoda (Sing Her Down).
Date: September 11, 2024
7:00pm - 		Venue: Pasadena Literary Alliance Address: 3352 E Foothill Blvd
Pasadena, CA 91107
Notes: Aimee will moderate novelist Percival Everett in conversation with David Mas Masumoto for the Open Book Series. At A Noise Within Theater, in Pasadena CA
Date: October 10, 2023
11:00am - 1:00pm 		Venue: Wilshire Country Club Address: 301 N. Rossmore Avenue
Los Angeles, California
Notes: I'm most grateful to the century-old women's club Play Review Group for hosting this book luncheon for Glorious Boy! Please RSVP to playreviewgroup@gmail.com and say you are a friend of mine. Dress code is country club lunch, and tickets for the lunch are $65 per person. I hope to see you there!
Date: October 1, 2023
7:00pm - 9:00pm 		Venue: LA Guild for Reproductive Health Address:
Beverly Hills, CA
Notes: "Meet the Author" evening with Aimee Liu $40 per person benefits LA Guild for Reproductive Health Space extremely limited. RSVP at https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx?name=E358633&id=32
Date: September 10, 2023
6:00pm - 		Venue: ForeWord Prose-writing Retreat in Megeve, France Address:
Notes: A Luxurious Writing Retreat for Fiction & Nonfiction Writers in Megève, France September 10 - 16, 2023 Enjoy a peaceful and productive week with Aimee Liu in a luxurious high mountain chalet in the Haute-Savoie region of France, one hour from Geneva. Each day will begin with an intensive writing workshop focused on fiction or nonfiction. We will discuss two participants’ work each morning (up to 5,000 words submitted in advance of the conference). In addition, Aimee will schedule an individual half-hour session to discuss your work after your workshop. Apply here: https://www.forewordretreats.com/retreats/
Date: June 26, 2023
6:00pm - 7:00pm 		Venue: Zibby's Bookshop Address: 1113 Montana Avenue
Santa Monica, CA 90403
Notes: Join Loren Stephens, author of All Sorrows Can Be Borne, in person with Aimee Liu, author of Glorious Boy. Loren and Aimee will be discussing the themes of Motherhood & Sacrifice, which both these novels have in common.
Date: May 3, 2023
8:00pm - 9:00pm 		Venue: LiveTalks LA Address: William Turner Gallery at Bergamot Arts Station 2525 Michigan Ave E-1
Santa Monica, CA 90404
Notes: Award-winning author Abraham Verghese in conversation with Aimee Liu discussing his novel, The Covenant of Water Virtual AND in person. Tickets required: https://livetalksla.org/events/abraham-verghese/ (Free parking available at the venue)
Date: April 22, 2023
4:30pm - 5:30pm 		Venue: LA Times Book Festival-Fiction Panel Address: USC Taper Hall 201
Los Angeles, CA
Notes: Siblings and Survivors--Panel 1115 Moderated by Aimee Liu Tickets Required Unflinchingly honest and bursting with heartbreak, these novels give an intimate look into the struggles, losses, and dreams of people doing whatever it takes to survive. Whether they’re fighting against their captors, moving to America for a better life, nightcrawling to support those in need, or banding together in the face of loss, the characters in these novels will stick with you long after the final page. Tickets required: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/los-angeles-times-festival-of-books-2023-tickets-572023065387
Date: April 24, 2022
11:00am - 12:00pm 		Venue: LA Times Book Festival Address: USC campus, Selley G Mudd 124
Los Angeles CA
Notes: I'm so excited to be moderating a fiction panel at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books: "Writing from History" with these incredible authors-- Reyna Grande Juhea Kim Vanessa Hua, and Tom Grattan. Angelenos, mark your calendar to join us IN PERSON!
Date: March 24, 2022
9:00am EDT - 10:00am EDT 		Venue: AWP Writers Conference ONLINE Address:
Notes: If you're registered for the AWP Community of Writers conference, please join me virtually for this one, along with Donna Hemans Jennifer Steil Keenan Norris and Janet Benton, as we talk about the challenge of staying true to a distant time, place, and culture when writing about far-flung worlds.
Date: January 29, 2022
12:00pm - 3:30pm 		Venue: Carlsbad City Library Address: 1775 Dove Lane
Carlsbad, CA 92011
Notes: This FREE in-person event features presentations by book club favorite authors: Jenna Blum, Georgie Blalock, Rich Farrell, Nicola Harrison, Aimee Liu, Jan Moran, Isla Morley, Kaira Rouda, Judith Teitelman, and Wendy Voorsanger, an interactive game of book bingo, and fun prizes, and all you have to do is show up (and why not invite your book club friends and fellow readers to join in as well) to learn about great new reads to add to your to be read list).
Date: December 1, 2021
4:00pm PST - 5:30pm PST 		Venue: Book Bingo (My Story, The Memoir): a Virtual Adventure Address: Virtual
https://adventuresbythebook.com/event/bingo-memoir/
Notes: This free event features presentations by book club favorite authors: Jenna Blum, Aimee Liu, Susan May, Lilly Dancyger, Laura Davis, and Amy Wallen,discussing their intimate memoirs! Also: an interactive virtual game of bingo, and fun prizes. All you have to do is show up (and why not invite your book club friends and fellow readers to join in as well) to learn about great new reads!
Date: August 15, 2021
2:00pm - 4:00pm 		Venue: Diesel Books in Brentwood Address: Brentwood Country Mart 225 26th Street, Suite #33
Santa Monica, CA 90402
Notes: Join Aimee At Diesel Books in Brentwood for their first IN PERSON event this year as we celebrate 8 authors who were brought together through Lockdown Literature. We'll be gathering outside but of course we do please request that everyone wears masks. Thank you! Lockdown Literature is a group of authors with books published during the coronavirus pandemic who have banded together to support one another and spread the word about these books. We want to shine a light on 8 of these incredible books and their authors and we hope you'll join us!
Date: June 27, 2021
11:30amCT - 12:30pmCT 		Venue: Historical Novel Society Conference #2 Address:
Notes: SHAKING UP TIME AND PLACE: HISTORICAL CHARACTERS IN UNFAMILIAR CULTURES Janet Fitch, Aimee Liu, Jennifer Steil, Liza Nash Taylor When writing about characters who migrate from one country to another, or characters native to a foreign land, historical novelists face a complicated cultural balancing act. We must fuse research on historical events with accurate, time-period correct portraits of foreign cultures. But how do we simultaneously convey both culture shock and rich and complex societies? How can writers employ the conflict and tension inherent in cultural transition? Perhaps most critical of all, how do we earn the right to tell these stories, when we ourselves are not native to the lands and the ethnicities we are fictionally inhabiting?
Date: June 25, 2021
9:00amCT - 10:00amCT 		Venue: Historical Novel Society Conference #1 Address:
Notes: CREATING CHARACTERS WHO BELONG WHERE YOU PUT THEM Janet Benton, Nicole Galland, Aimee Liu, Jennifer Steil One of the hardest things about writing stories set in the past can be creating female characters with real agency, given how little agency women have historically been allowed. How do we balance creating a believable woman of the time with giving her the agency necessary to make her interesting and to achieve what a narrative requires of her? This is just one of the challenges we will discuss in this panel about how to create context-sensitive characters who are believable in a given fictional world, characters who don’t feel anachronistic.
Date: April 27, 2021
6:00pm PT - 7:00pm PT 		Venue: Book Passage Address: Virtual
Notes: Aimee will be chatting about Glorious Boy with Book Passage's own Meet The Author book group! Check back for details, or contact Book Passage in Corte Madera and ask about their Meet the Author book group.
Date: April 25, 2021
11:00amET - 12:00pmET 		Venue: Newburyport Lit Festival Address:
Notes: The Allure of the Untold Story Authors Aimee Liu and Jennifer Steil discuss how they found untold stories from World War II and transformed these parts of history into their recent novels, Glorious Boy and Exile Music. They will discuss how they went about researching their books, how they solved the toughest challenges they encountered, why they chose to center their books on certain characters, how they created the narrative structures of their books, their writing processes, and the surprises they encountered along the way. They’ll also talk about diving deeply into place in order to bring to life an overlooked part of the world.
Date: April 21, 2021
6:00pm PT - 7:00pm PT 		Venue: Book Passage Conversations with Authors Address: Virtual
Notes: A conversation between Aimee and her former MFA student JoAnne Tompkins, author of the brilliant new novel What Comes After, published by Riverhead. Check back for details, or contact Book Passage.
Date: March 6, 2021
1:30pm CT - 2:30pm CT 		Venue: 2021 AWP Conference Address: Virtual
Notes: Fierce L.A. Women Write Stories that Change the Paradigm, Sponsored by Red Hen Press: A Panel discussion with authors Aimee Bender, Lisa Teasley, Susan Straight, and Dana Johnson, moderated by Aimee Liu Open to all registered AWP attendees: https://www.awpwriter.org/awp_conference/registration_overview
Date: February 24, 2021
4:00pm PT - 5:00pm PT 		Venue: OTIS COLLEGE OF ART & DESIGN Address: Virtual
Los Angeles, CA 90045
Notes: Public Reading & Conversation with Aimee Liu as part of the Otis College MFA Writing Program Visiting Author Series. Please register for this online event in advance by following this link: https://bit.ly/3qw9cNx Once registered, you will receive an event invitation and link to admission. RSVP NOW Open to the Public This event is free!
Date: February 23, 2021
4:00pm ET - 5:00pm ET 		Venue: New York Writers Workshop Writers Series Address: Virtual
Notes: Host Christina Chiu will discuss ideas of beauty and identity with authors Aimee Liu, Artress Bethany White, Sergio Troncoso, and Sahar Mustafah. Please join us on Facebook @ New York Writers Workshop https://www.facebook.com/27286464729/posts/10158950296519730/
Date: November 19, 2020
11:00am ET - 12:30pm ET 		Venue: Central European University Address:
Notes: Dr.Arunima Bhattacharya to lecture on Aimee Liu’s ‘Glorious Boy’ in the Context of Anthropological Documentation and the Consolidation of the Indian Nation State (European NetIAS Lecture Series) [Aimee Liu will not be speaking at this event]
Date: November 18, 2020
2:00pm ET - 3:00pm ET 		Venue: Authors Guild Marketplace Webinar Address:
Notes: Manuscript to Marketplace: Glorious Boy with Aimee Liu, Megan Beatie, Dr. Kate Gale, and Fauzia Burke. Novelist Aimee Liu and members of her publishing team will discuss the process of creating and publishing Liu’s novel Glorious Boy, revealing how this manuscript made it to the marketplace and met the many obstacles posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. FREE Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_FOZ56GL5RWmpAA2oA-Z_uQ
Date: October 25, 2020
12:00pm PT - 1:30pm PT 		Venue: Red Hen Press Virtual Benefit Address: https://redhen.org/benefit/
Notes: Aimee will be a Featured Author, along with Allison Joseph and Maurice Carlos Ruffin..
Date: October 3, 2020
5:00pm PT - 6:00pm PT 		Venue: Singapore Literature Festival Address: https://singaporeunbound.org/festival-program
Notes: "Revolutionary Family Histories" Aimee Liu moderates a panel discussion with novelists Elaine Castillo (America Is Not My Heart) and Meira Chand (A Different Sky ) Co-presented by Adelphi University's MFA Program and Soapbox Series
Date: September 21, 2020
5:00pm PT - 6:00pm PT 		Venue: Skylight Books + Consequence Magazine Address: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/skylit-writing-for-peace/register
Notes: Writing For Peace An International Peace Day Conversation on the 75th Anniversary of the End of WWII With award-winning novelists Aimee Liu, Rahna Reiko Rizzuto, and Sherri L. Smith Sponsored by Consequence Magazine
Date: August 27, 2020
7:00pm ET - 8:00pm ET 		Venue: New York Writers Workshop Address: https://www.facebook.com/27286464729/videos/720152711900974/
Notes: Women's Perspectives on WWII Readings and conversation with novelists Aimee Liu and Annette Binder and memoirist Sandell Morse, moderated by Christina Chiu Link to event: https://www.facebook.com/27286464729/videos/720152711900974/
Date: July 19, 2020
2:00pm PT - 3:00pm PT 		Venue: CARLSBAD LIBRARY Address: https://adventuresbythebook.com/event/virtual-summer-reading-adventure-2-carlsbad/
Notes: "Adventures by the Book" - VIRTUAL Author panel: Aimee Liu, Megan Miranda, Kristin Rockaway Go to: https://adventuresbythebook.com/event/virtual-summer-reading-adventure-2-carlsbad/
Date: July 19, 2020
3:00pm ET - 4:00pm ET 		Venue: Politics & Prose Live! Address: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pp-live-donna-hemans-and-aimee-liu-tickets-110200657132
Notes: Donna Hemans and Aimee Liu discuss each of their new books, "Tea by the Sea" and "Glorious Boy."
Date: July 16, 2020
4:00pm PT - 5:00pm PT 		Venue: Huntington Beach Library Address: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/friends-of-the-huntington-beach-public-library-18924578189
Notes: Join us from the comfort of your home as we talk (via Zoom) with bestselling historical fiction author Aimee Liu.
Date: July 14, 2020
6:00pm PT - 7:00pm PT 		Venue: Litquake on Lockdown Address: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/a-family-divided/register
Notes: Millions of families are separated today, by circumstances of the current pandemic, by draconian immigration policies, and by war. Family separation has long been used as an intentional political tool to pressure, frighten, and terrorize. Through the lens of fiction, we can understand the impact of such wounds, and strengthen our shared belief in family and community connection. Authors Donna Hemans, Aimee Liu, Ellen Meeropol, and Kristen Millares Young discuss their Spring 2020 novels, and explore the paths of families torn apart. FREE, $5 suggested donation
Date: July 1, 2020
1:00pm EDT - 2:00pm EDT 		Venue: Secluded: A Virtual Writing Conference Address: https://secluded-writers-conference.heysummit.com/talks/finding-and-fictionalizing-untold-stories/
Notes: Authors Aimee Liu and Jennifer Steil discuss how they found untold stories from World War II and transformed these parts of history into their recent novels. Liu’s new novel Glorious Boy unfolds in the Andaman Islands of British India, which in 1942 became the western front of the Pacific Theater as the Japanese closed in on the Indian subcontinent. Steil’s new novel, Exile Music, follows a family of Viennese Jewish musicians who fled the Nazis in Austria for the Andes of Bolivia. During World War II, there were some 20,000 Jewish refugees living in Bolivia.
Date: June 24, 2020
7:30pm EDT - 		Venue: Aimee and author Donna Hemans Address: GREENLIGHT BOOKSTORE
Zoom https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_vDdaDXyxQHqxzsVEggYFqQ
Notes: Reading and conversation with Aimee and author Donna Hemans. Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_vDdaDXyxQHqxzsVEggYFqQ
Date: June 12, 2020
3:00pm EDT - 5:00pm EDT 		Venue: AWP Address: FaceBook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/awpcommunity/
Notes: EVERY FRIDAY in JUNE! AWP Virtual Book Club, a book club with a unique craft focus, has chosen Glorious Boy as the featured book for June. Starting Friday, June 5, 2020, join the conversation by posting discussion questions on the AWP Community of Writers Facebook group. Each Friday, craft-focused questions will be shared from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST, and we will hold a discussion in the comments underneath the posted questions. Respond to the question listed and engage in virtual craft conversation with other participants.
Date: June 11, 2020
6:00pm PDT - 7:00pm PDT 		Venue: Aimee in conversation with Donna Hemans, author of Tea by the Sea Address: VROMANS BOOKS
Crowdcast https://www.crowdcast.io/e/liu-hemans/register
Notes: Virtual Reading and conversation with Aimee and author Donna Hemans (Tea By the Sea) Register here: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/liu-hemans/register
Date: June 10, 2020
10:00am PDT - 		Venue: BEYOND THE BOOK WITH JULIE Address: Instagram Live
https://www.instagram.com/thejuliechanshow/
Notes: Join Aimee's first interview on Instagram live!
Date: June 9, 2020
2:00pm PT - 2:30pm PT 		Venue: “Author2Author” Address: BLOGTALKRADIO
https://www.blogtalkradio.com/author-magazine
Notes: Aimee's Podcast Interview with Bill Kenower, host of Author2Author
Date: June 9, 2020
6:30pm PDT - 7:30pm PDT 		Venue: Sandra Tsing Loh and Aimee Liu in conversation Address: Diesel Bookstore
Crowdcast https://www.crowdcast.io/e/sandra-tsing-loh-madwoman-and-the-roomba/register?fbclid=IwAR1r
Notes: Join Aimee and Sandra Tsing Loh to discuss Sandra's new book, The Madwoman and the Roomba: My Year of Domestic Mayhem! Register here: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/sandra-tsing-loh-madwoman-and-the-roomba/register?fbclid=IwAR1rUgNFhAsHiP
Date: May 28, 2020
7:00pm ET - 8:00pm ET 		Venue: ODYSSEY BOOKSHOP Address: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85345602491
Notes: Virtual Reading and conversation with Aimee and author Ellen Meeropol (Her Sister's Tattoo)
Date: May 20, 2020
4:00pm PT - 5:00pm PT 		Venue: Red Hen Press Address: Facebook.com/redhenpress
Notes: A Virtual reading and chat with authors Aimee Liu and Donna Hemans in celebration of their latest books GLORIOUS BOY and TEA BY THE SEA! Join us for a reading and conversation with Red Hen Press Managing Editor and cofounder Kate Gale! Viewable on: Facebook.com/redhenpress, redhen.org, redhenpress.org, youtube.com/redhenpressbeats, or linkedin.com/company/red-hen-press
Date: May 12, 2020
10:00am - 10:30am 		Venue: Podcast: Dialogue-Between the Lines Address: https://www.blogtalkradio.com/dialogue
Notes: Live podcast with interviewer Susan Wingate - Follow at Dialogue's platform: https://www.blogtalkradio.com/dialogue
Date: May 12, 2020
5:30pm - 6:00pm 		Venue: NOVEL NETWORK/Facebook Live Chat Address: Join here to attend: https://www.facebook.com/groups/278593082752890/
Notes: Interview with Deborah Harpham. Join here to attend: https://www.facebook.com/groups/278593082752890/
Date: May 12, 2020
6:30pm - 7:30pm 		Venue: Crowdcast Book Launch with Sandra Tsing Loh Address: Go to Diesel’s Crowdcast link attend: https://www.facebook.com/dieselbrentwood/
Notes: Aimee will be celebrating the release of Glorious Boy with the inestimable Sandra Tsing Loh! Go to Diesel’s Crowdcast link attend: https://www.facebook.com/dieselbrentwood/
Date: May 12, 2020
11:30am - 12:00pm 		Venue: “Reading with Robin” on A MIGHTY BLAZE Address: https://www.facebook.com/amightyblaze/
Notes: Robin Homonoff will interview Aimee for "A Mighty Blaze" on FaceBook Live: https://www.facebook.com/amightyblaze/
Date: May 11, 2020
6:30pm - 7:30pm 		Venue: Writers Voices with Monica Hadley Address: KHOE 90.5 FM
Fairfield, Iowa
Notes: Aimee will appear on air on Writers’ Voices on KHOE 90.5 FM in Fairfield, Iowa. and KICI 105.3 LP in Iowa City, Iowa. Or listen to the podcast at http://writersvoices.com/

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